Thursday, December 24, 2009

Three Fine Beers

So for this Christmas eve, I offer you shorty reviews of three nice beers I've recently tried. All recommended as appropriate partners for your roast beast on Christmas day.

MacTarnahan's Goose Bump"Wow. That's a little over the top for me."

Sally got to her half of our 22-ounce Goose Bump before I did, and when she offered her first reaction, I considered it a very good sign. When was the last time you heard someone describe a Mac's as "over the top?"

Goose Bump is an imperal stout saturated with a mighty infusion of coffee. When I saw brewer Vasilios Gletsos at the Holiday Ale Fest, he mentioned that it had been made with cold-brewed Stumptown coffee. The idea there is to extract the purer, tastier essences of the coffee been, leaving behind some of the harsher, more bitter compounds. Still, use enough coffee, and you get a mouthful of java, and that's apparently what Mac's did. This is absolutely not a beer for those who don't like coffee. Even for those who do, it's pretty aggressive. The most impressive element of this beer is its mousse-like structure, an amazing creaminess in the mouth. The beer employs oats to this end, but I wonder if the coffee didn't add something, too. A beer that won't be for everyone, which is a great credit to the brewery. For those who do like it, they'll really like it. I'll go a B+ on the ratings scale, partly just because the coffee flavor is so intense it will eliminate a fair number of drinkers from the picture. (Bonus: video of Vasilios talking aboutGoose Bump.)

Hopworks Kronan the Barbarian and Abominable Winter AleI finally made it down to Hopworks for a pour of Kronan the Barbarian, a Baltic Porter. This no-longer-so-obscure style is one of my faves, and I hadn't had a chance to try Kronan at the Holiday Ale Fest. It's a pretty nice version, too. A burly beer with lots roastiness and all the flavor you want out of a Baltic. If I were to ding the beer, it would be on the grounds that it's pretty ale-y. The Baltics I've tried distinguish themselves from porters and stouts by a smooth lager character. Some are so bitter they tend toward sourness, and there's little in the way of ale fruitiness to rescue the beer from this tendency. In a blind tasting, I'm not sure I would have identified this as a Baltic. A very tasty beer on its own merits, however, leaving aside style considerations. Also a B+.

The Abominable, though, was the real winner. Put it squarely in the Fa La La La La camp of exquisite extreme hopping. From the first whiff (evident at 12 inches) to the first sip, this thing is all hops. I scoured the intertubes, but found no mention of the varieties of hops used (Hopworks is in danger of joining Roots for most out-of-date website)--a pity, because I'd like to know how they achieved the almost lemon-intense citrus tang. For a beer of this heft, the hops are remarkably clean and articulated. Not for nothing, but it's also a damn pretty beer, too. Maybe the best beer I've ever had from Hopworks. I'll go an A- here, though that's a little Grinchly of me. If it's this good next year, Abominable will earn top marks.

4 comments:

I'll admit to not being the biggest fan of HUB's beers at the beginning (but a big fan of the place - lovely to see one person's vision so fully realized), but man am I coming around: the Abominable was superb, the cask IPA is wonderful and the Baltic great as well.

a) I loved the comment "is in danger of joining Roots for most out-of-date website".I visit many breweries' website and find many wanting. Bear Republic's website is unique in that there is a description with IBU and ABV of every beer brewed.b) your reviews of HUB's beers incites the desire to visit again.c) Happy Hols

Hopworks is glorious stuff and I encourage more people to go there. There's always something interesting to sample in the rotation and the $10 growlers with a knowledgeable bartending staff that know what they're doing = good times.

I am drinking Goose Bump right now and completely agree with the assessment. It's taking a few sips to get used to the laser-like focus of the coffee infusion.